


The Sound Of His Voice

by roxyofheart



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Ableism, Alternate Universe, First Kiss, First Love, M/M, Pepsicola, Selective Mutism AU, Short & Sweet, autistic dave, davejohn - Freeform, johndave - Freeform, mentions of bullying, no-angst, pure fluff, selective mutism, soft fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28722291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roxyofheart/pseuds/roxyofheart
Summary: John just wanted to hear Dave speak, to be able to talk to him. But he guessed learning ASL wasn't too bad.(Where John meets Dave and is really interested in everything about him).
Relationships: John Egbert/Dave Strider
Comments: 38
Kudos: 34





	1. His Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Hey :) This is going to be a short & sweet JohnDave story! It's gonna be 7 chapters long, and I'm gonna post one every other day. I hope you enjoy!

We were _so_ late. I don't remember ever running faster than I did when I realized it was eight in the morning. I was still in bed.

There was no time to shower. Jade was complaining that I smelled but it was _definitely_ not true. We ran to the car, and dad drove us.

"Told ya we could make it”.

Jade rolled her eyes with a smile because arriving at twenty past eight was _not_ “making it”.

“Go, go, go!”

“Going! Thanks, dad!”

My sister and I jumped out of the car,  quickly  running towards the gate. Almost no one was out, it was so late. The other students who were also late accompanied our awkward quick stroll. We  just  hoped to make it to the first period.

Why was it so awkward being late anyway? It didn’t matter, it was worrying to, we had fucking Math. Nothing worse to have at eight in the morning.

Running to the classroom, I saw my teacher stand in the hallway, speaking to a parent and a kid. She saw me before I could sneak into the classroom.

“You’re too late, Egbert".

“Mrs. Myer, please let me in. Please. I’m never late, you know I’m never late”.

“You’re late right now," she saw me plead and sighed. “That’s okay, go in. Don’t tell anyone”.

I thanked her infinitely, entering the room. I heard her apologize to the adult and the student that she was talking to.

I didn’t pay much attention to the student’s face, partly because I didn’t look at him and partly because the adult next to him caught my attention more. He was really tall, and his hair was really blond, and his strong arms looked monstrous next to the medium-sized lady that Mrs. Myer was.

I sat down where I always did, greeting my friends. Everyone was talking instead of doing their work, so I didn’t worry about having missed anything.

“Hey. Slept more than the bed?"

“Hey, Rose. Yeah, I did,” but  maybe  I hadn’t. Maybeit had been Jade’s fault. “Why’s Mrs. Myer out there?”

Rose shrugged, leaving me without an answer. I didn’t understand why they'd interrupt a teacher’s class because of a student, unless something important had happened.

But I hadn’t looked at the kid, so it made sense for me not to know.  Maybe  Mrs. Myer knew them from another class, maybethat was it.

She then came back, responding to all of my thoughts. The kid walked next to her, a blond boy who had to be that tall man’s son. Now that I saw him, actually looking, I could see he had fair white skin, and that he had bright red eyes. I didn't know that was a possible thing so I assumed he was wearing contacts, or that he was blind.

He wasn’t. He looked around the classroom, shyly but definitely seeing us. He followed behind Mrs. Myer towards one of the chairs closest to the door, and placed the backpack he was holding on the desk. 

“Who’s that?”

The teacher was quick to answer Rose. “Sorry, everyone, I had to do something important. This is David, and he’ll be joining your class for some time this year".

A lot of students waved at the new kid, and others rolled their eyes or just continued talking.

“He is mute, so you’re going to have to adapt to our new friend. David, if you have any doubts, just pass a note to the student next to you and they can ask me out loud. This is Jane”.

“Great, Jane’s gonna be the mutie’s slave,” I heard the boy behind me complain. I shook my head.

“Teacher?” another student spoke. “Yes?” Mrs. Myer asked. “Is David deaf?”

The guy behind me laughed again. I wasn’t so sure who it was before, but now I realized it was fucking Cronus, who was a jerk to everyone he knew. The teacher stared at him quickly before turning her eyes back to the student, replying “no”.

“David has a disorder named selective mutism. He’s psychologically incapable of speaking most times. He has learned the language of deaf people, yes, so he can communicate effectively”.

“Like ASL?”

“Yes,” and she turned to David, who nodded. “Yes”.

He looked nice, I guessed. He had really light eyelashes going together with those eyes. I was waiting for people to ask her why the kid had red eyes, but maybe that was too mean or stupid even for them.

He looked shy. Or better, he looked _scared_. It was like he hadn’t been in a school before, like he had never stood in front of a classroom like that. “Selective” mutism, how did that even work? I wrote down a mental note to search about that later.

“But of course, it isn’t very nice of us to speak about David like he isn’t here,” the teacher continued. “I’m sure you can learn more about him by having a nice conversation with him later. Now we need to get back to class”.

Oh yes. _Sure_ people were going to have nice conversations with the kid. He had been called “mutie” already, I honestly expected nothing but harsh bullying from our class.

Dave was not small, so I didn’t know how much beating he was in for, if any at all. He was probably shorter than me but had slightly wide shoulders, despite that really thin waist. But he did look, sadly, like the kind of guy who’d get beat up around the street. He looked weak, he looked scared, and that was the bullies’ favorite thing: fear.

He sat down quietly, and having a disorder wasn’t enough for people to go easy on him. “Teacher?” I heard another student ask, hoping it was gonna be something good. “Don’t you think David should introduce himself to the class?”

Everyone burst into laughing. Some people did have sense though, including Jane, who reached to him to apologize.

“If you keep being mean I’m going to send all of you to detention. I’m sorry, David”.

He didn’t seem bothered, or better, seemed to be used to it. I didn’t know enough about ASL but at that moment I could imagine him shooting everyone the universal sign of the middle finger.


	2. His Name

I saw him at recess obviously getting picked on. The guys weren’t doing anything violent, and if a teacher told them to stop, they’d be able to say “we weren’t doing anything”. Dave wasn’t being touched but could obviously hear the “where you going, silent boy?” and the “can you hear me?” that they would _not_ stop chanting towards him.

“You guys really can’t help yourselves for one day, huh?” I approached them. David stared at me with the same expression I saw him have in class, just the neutral and big-eyed face that he constantly seemed to have.

“Sup, Egbert,” _Cronus_. There he was again, being awful. “This your friend?”

“Not yet,” I replied.

“‘Right, have fun,” he winked and left while laughing, having two friends follow him behind. David looked at me with the same expression, nodding his head.

“That means thank you?” I asked, him nodding again, and then using his hand to show me “more or less”. “You know what, I know ASL”.

He widened his eyes, probably thinking he had been saved by the only 16-year old who knew sign language around there.

“Well. Actually, I know the alphabet”.

He shot me a smile, giggling without sound. I was interested in how his disorder worked, but definitely wasn’t clueless enough to ask him about it.

“I’m John, or… wait. This is… J-”

He nodded, seeing me spell. “J, o, h, n”. I didn’t seem to make a mistake. He smiled, shooting me a sign I didn’t know the meaning of.

“That means…” and he used his lips to form “nice to meet you,” really slowly.

Yeah. I could probably communicate like that.

“That’s cool!” I thanked him. “And you’re… David?” And he started spelling “D, a, v, e”. Dave. “Dave?” he nodded. “That’s a nice name. See, Dave, the guys here can be real jerks when they want to. But don’t worry, I’ll tell them you’re cool and you’ll be fine. It’ll be alright”.

Dave stared at me with an expression I wasn’t able to crack. Maybe he was judging me, because _maybe_ I was wrong for not stopping all the bullying. But it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t want to get bullied too, so I just did the best I could do.

But maybe that was shitty of me, and _maybe_ that’s what he was trying to tell me through his face. I wondered if he was good at that, at communicating with his face. That would probably be good for a mute guy.

Was calling him that rude?

“Okay?” He nodded. I hoped I was doing something reasonable. He had to be uncomfortable by now, having that stranger talk to him.

There was nothing more I had to say so I just nodded at him too. Dave shook his hand and that definitely meant “bye”. _Dave_. Dave fit him much more than David. It even made me want to have a cool nickname.

I looked at Dave during Math to see if he was writing any doubts for Jane to ask out loud, or if he was asking for help at all. He looked really quiet, like he really didn’t want to be there, and couldn’t even try to lie saying that he wasn’t completely lost.

I looked down, ripping a small piece of paper from my notebook, and grabbed the best-writing pen I had. “Bored?” I wrote on the paper.

“Yo. Can you pass this to Dave?”

The guy next to me didn’t complain and just handed Dave the piece of paper, with a light touch on his shoulder. Dave stared at the word and then looked back at me.

Dave sat on the far right of the classroom, on the third desk from front to back. It wasn’t a comfortable turn that he had to do to be able to find my eyes, but he did it anyway.

He looked confused. I was scared he wouldn’t enjoy that so I raised my eyebrows at him. He didn’t see it, though, because he turned back to his desk, grabbing his own pen and writing on the paper too.

Dave handed the paper to the guy, who gave it back to me.

“A little bit”.

Really direct answer, I thought. Maybe too direct, I couldn’t really continue a conversation with just that. And I also didn’t want to look weird. I started thinking about what I was going to say, and if that Dave, who was now staring at the board, would like being distracted again.

I decided to try it anyway. “This is way easier than ASL”.

Dave didn’t seem to take that joke lightly. He replied, “you don’t have to talk to me”.

My head hurt. That wasn’t what I had meant. And I wasn’t talking to him out of any obligations. I wished he knew that.

“I know, sorry. Just a joke. Sorry again”.

That was so fucking awkward now.

He replied. “Oh. No, I’m sorry. Well. I can teach you ASL if you want”.

Without even realizing it, we were already using more and more pieces of paper. He even ripped a page off his notebook for us to use. The guy who was our mailman was _definitely_ tired of us.

“Yo, that’d be cool”. “That was also a joke”.

I giggled, but not too loud. That wasn’t what I wanted to talk about, to ask him about sign language.

“Do you have a dog?” I asked for no reason. “No. Do you?” he replied. “No :( but I’d like to”, I said. “That sucks”.

We kept sharing notes, maybe more than we should’ve been during Math class. Dave’s handwriting was crooked and confusing to read, but definitely better than mine.

And we kept not making any sense, sharing notes only because we were bored and didn’t care about having a normal conversation. Dave smiled at me once, or twice, and that admittedly felt good, making him happy. The last thing I asked him on the paper was “do you have Pesterchum?”


	3. His Favorite Color

EB: yoooo.

EB: this is john. hi :)

TG: wow, thanks for letting me know. i was almost scared you were a dangerous murderer

EB: haha, hilarious.

I took a step back, eyes glued to his words on the screen. It was strange to see Dave… talking? to me, it was strange but really good. He seemed like a really nice guy.

EB: typing in red, huh? that has to be your favorite color.

TG: so observant, egbert…

Dave had typed three sentences to me and I already knew he was the most sarcastic son of a bitch I could talk to. But honestly, I could have told that just by looking at him.

EB: hehe.

EB: can you guess mine? ;)

TG: green?

EB: nah, dumbass.

TG: lmao, as if it wasnt obvious by the clothes you wear

TG: you always have either a green, black, or blue shirt, jeans and white shoes. but your phone cases blue

TG: and your backpack

TG: and like, the color you use here. kinda obvious

EB: wow, you noticed all that?

Dave took some moments to respond. When he did, it said:

TG: yeah. i observe a lot. sometimes

EB: really?

_Observing_. I wondered what Dave meant by that. I also wondered who else in our school he had observed before, who else had felt his red eyes lay on their skin.

TG: yeah.

EB: and you like observing me?

Maybe that had been a bad question. And maybe that was why Dave took long to answer. “Yeah”, I was expecting him to say. Or just “no”, if he was shy to admit it. But what he did say was:

TG: i like your glasses

My glasses… I had never thought about my glasses too much. I surely didn’t hate wearing them, because being able to see was amazing. But my glasses… he noticed them?

EB: really?

EB: thank you :)

Dave didn’t reply. I stared at my keyboard for three minutes thinking about what I’d say next.

EB: hey, “turntechGodhead”. why that name?

EB: it sounds cool :)

TG: dont know, my brother picked it for me

EB: your brother? why?

TG: i dont know, he set up all my social media, and came up with the name

EB: you don’t even know what it means?

TG: i do

TG: kinda

Dave was… about sixteen, he couldn’t be much younger or older than that. Why had his brother made all of his social media? Pesterchum wasn’t even older than five years. I thought about what reaction he’d have if I asked about it, and it really wasn’t a good idea.

EB: oh. ok. do you like it?

TG: can we not talk about that?

EB: of course.

TG: just… it’s very boring

EB: it’s okay. we can talk about something else :)

Great, more minutes to stare at my keyboard. Was I using too many smiley faces? Was Dave even comfortable with a random guy becoming his friend in less than a week?

Less than… two days, actually!

I kept typing and didn’t notice but asked him about his favorite movies. He didn’t seem as thrilled about them as I wanted him to be and so I had to change the subject again. I asked about his favorite food and he apparently didn’t like chocolate. I asked him about his favorite subject and he said it was History. I asked him about his favorite game and he gave me a list. I asked him about music, and there, jackpot.

Dave went on about music, maybe typing for fifteen paragraphs straight, about the songs he liked listening to and the playlist that _I_ should listen to. I asked him for links and promised that I’d listen when I could, like when going to school or when taking a shower.

Dave said he didn’t listen to music in the shower, and so I asked him why. I talked to him for maybe hours, asking him about _a lot_. And then I finally asked him to go out.

It was an accident, kind of. I hadn’t been _expecting_ to ask him but knew that I would eventually. Dave seemed fun, and setting my brain to “ask him out” mode meant that he seemed even more fun than I thought I thought he was.

He, again, didn’t seem thrilled. I was afraid I was being too direct. I was afraid he’d hate me because I’d fuck something up. But what could I do? He was such a cool guy and I knew I’d love to talk to him in person like we talked online after he opened up.

But then, I remembered. Dave made me remember.

TG: go out where?

EB: i don’t know… anywhere! :) Just wanna hang out.

EB: you’re hilarious, dave.

TG: maybe here, but not in person

TG: i dont speak

That… wasn’t a problem. Was it? I liked talking. I liked being listened to. But… I did want to hear him speak, talk about his interests and all that. I did want to hear Dave talk about his favorite artists, about the games he liked the most. But I couldn’t. Dave didn’t speak. And I couldn’t expect him to.

Dave was mute, okay. I wanted to hang out with a guy who was mute. That’s… okay.

It had never happened before but… it was okay?

EB: hey, that’s cool! i know.

I tried not to seem confused, because I was lost about my feelings. Wow, how shitty that was. Thinking about Dave’s “issue” and making it into an “issue” and wondering if he was worth hanging out with.

He was. Of course he was.

EB: i can learn ASL :)

TG: are you flirting with me? /joking

_Fuck_. I knew it was a joke but… was I?

And was he _really_ joking?


	4. His Drink

I spent the night before class training basic phrases in ASL. “Hello”. “Good morning”. “How are you”. “You look good”.

Maybe I wouldn’t use that last one on Dave. But it was true, he did look good.

He wore red on that day, black pants and red shoes going with his shirt. I definitely could see why it was his favorite color, it went amazingly with him, and it contrasted well with his eyes.

But why was I paying attention to all that?

“Hey, looking good,” I began when I got close to him. _Shit_. The words had just come out like it was nothing. “But, uh, you’d look cooler in blue”.

Dave didn’t seem to be weirded out. He smiled, and shook his head. “No,” he signed to me.

“Yes,” I signed to him back. “My… favorite… color”.

Dave stared at my hands, and then back at me. He reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, typing on the notes app.

“You’re learning ASL?”

“Yeah,” I said out loud, together with the universal sign for yes, the head nod. “Thought it’d be helpful. And cool. Don’t think anyone here at school knows it”.

He stared down at the phone and typed. “Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised”.

Dave shot me a big smile, and I smiled back.

“Anyway. See you in class?”

Dave nodded, staring me up and down. I was glad that he liked that I was studying ASL. I was scared he'd be uncomfortable by that.

He grabbed a bottle from his backpack and so I asked him what it was. He signed something to me, really slowly.

“Hm… juice?” he shook his head, and then shrugged. Back to his phone, he wrote “well. Yeah, it’s juice. Apple juice”.

“So this symbol is… a-pple?”

“Yes,” he signed, holding my right hand to guide it around. “A-pple”.

His hand felt… cold from the juice. But still, somewhat warm around mine.

“Thanks for teaching me, Dave,” and he nodded. “I see the bullies haven’t talked to you today”.

Dave’s face dropped. Yeah, I didn’t know why I had said that. I didn’t know _why_ I would say something like that. But every bit of happiness that I had made with him seemed to have been ruined by that single _stupid_ sentence I had said. “The bullies haven’t talked to you today”, such a fucking jerk.

“Sorry. Forget I said that. Uhh, so you like apple juice, huh?”

Dave typed on his phone. “See you in class, Egbert”.

“Sure,” I said, cheeks going red. “See you in class”.

* * *

Science class was being slower than I thought it would be. I thought about passing notes to Dave, but I couldn’t apologize through messages. I decided Rose was my best attempt at trying to figure out what to do.

“Hey,” I poked her on the shoulder. She turned right to look at me. “What?”

“You busy?” I whispered. She widened her eyes and stared at the board, where the teacher was writing _a lot_. I hadn’t even realized she had written so much. What had I missed? “Stupid question. I’m sorry. Hey, can you help me with something?”

Rose put her pen down and came closer to me. “Can’t it wait?” “No!” I said. “I did something shitty”.

“What’d you do now?”

“You know Dave?”

She stared at him, who sat in front of the class, next to the wall. “The new kid?”

Maybe she was weirded out about the nickname. “Yeah”.

Well, maybe I hadn’t told anyone about Dave yet. I just thought that she would know, seeing me hang out with him in recess or passing notes… But maybe I was being more secretive than I thought.

Did Dave realize that? Did he think I was hiding him away or something?

I hoped not.

“What about him, John?”

“Well. We’re friends now”. She stared at me. “Really?”

I nodded.

“Just friends?”

“Yeah,” obviously. “Just friends”.

“Hm”. Rose turned back to her desk, writing down the calculations that kept being put on the board. I had given up already on trying to pay attention.

“Well. I did something shitty to him today. Asked him about the bullies. Like it was nothing”.

“What do you mean?” I explained the situation to her. “Fuck, that’s mean”.

“Yeah, I know”.

She chuckled. “But… you’re learning sign language for the guy and you say you’re ‘just friends’?”

I could feel my cheeks going hot, maybe someone around us was listening. “We’re just friends, Rose. For now, at least”.

She nodded. “I believe you, Egbert”.

“Well? Can you help me?”

“What can _I_ do? You need to apologize to him,” and maybe she was right. Maybe just saying that “it was stupid” wasn’t apologizing.

God, I was dumb. I was dumber than I thought I was. But if I still didn’t know how to use words, then what could I do?

Then it came to my head: actions. I grabbed my phone, close to my pocket so that nobody would see, and opened Pesterchum.

EB: so, let’s go out on saturday? :)


	5. His Brother

The movie I chose for me and Dave was _incredible_. It was full of superheroes, incredible villains, and everything else I could babble about. It was October 12th, a Saturday, when we went. We chose chairs H8 and H9.

Was that forward?, I asked myself. Taking him to the movies, was that weird? God, I hope he didn’t think it was forward.

It had been a little over a week since we had met, and we spoke online almost every day, for the whole day. So it wasn't weird anymore... right?

Dave was quiet, but it turned out that once you got past his shyness, he actually was an incredible guy. He could write for hours and hours about his favorite subjects, never making it seem like anything was missing. He was just _such_ a good guy, and I was learning even more than I thought I’d learn with him.

I couldn't complain, everything was perfect. Even the movie I picked, so perfect. I couldn’t shut up about it on the way out of the cinema.

“And that scene where he just… pow! It was so… GOD, so beautiful, such a beautiful scene! Wait”. I handed Dave the popcorn so that I could use my hands. “B-eauti-ful… Beautiful… scene?”

He nodded. _Yes_. I was getting really good at that.

“Anyway, and that cast… oh my God! I couldn’t imagine better actors to play those heroes, they chose the perfect guys! Don’t you think?”

Dave nodded once more. Shit, maybe he had nothing to say. Maybe he had hated the movie.

“Did you like the movie?”

“Yes,” he signed. “I loved the ending”.

“You loved the ending?” he nodded with a smile. “Why? The part with the brothers hugging?”

“Yeah”.

I thought about our proximity. We were already… friends. Asking about his life was something I was allowed to do now.

“You have a brother, right?”

He didn’t move his hands, only his head. “Yes”.

“What’s his name?”

He looked like he didn’t know what to say, or didn’t know if I would understand what he wanted to say. He then grabbed his phone, and typed for me: “does it really matter?”

And that was when I realized I had to stop asking him about his brother. Dave definitely wasn’t comfortable with that subject, and I had been too stupid to respect that. “I’m sorry, so sorry”.

I realized I started using the signs with words more often, even though I didn’t need to. When I introduced Dave to Rose, on the day before the 12th, I noticed I spelled his name with my hands even though they both could hear me. I guessed that was good, and meant that I was learning.

“My brother hates that I’m mute,” he signed, even though I couldn’t understand most words. “He hates that I’m so fucked up, and he says that to my face. He says he wishes I had never been born, that he would be happy if I died tomorrow. He calls me sick and stupid because I can’t speak. Even though it’s his fault”.

I’d only understand those sentences weeks later, when Dave would tell me what they meant. Whatever he had signed, I knew I shouldn’t ask about. I knew he hadn’t signed for me to understand, and so I left it all behind.

"Is your family okay with you being gay?"

Dave turned to me like I had just threatened to kill him, with eyes so wide and an expression so hard to crack. _Shit_. Maybe I had read things wrong.

He was saying “what?” with his eyes. I could see it.

“Oh! You're not gay?" He shook his head. "Oh, I… I thought you were, and that this was like…” I paused. “A date… I'm dumb, I’m sorry”.

“Yes,” he would say if he could. "Yes, you are". But he couldn’t even sign anything right then. He just kept walking, not staring at me and not stopping his movements. God, I had made everything awkward again.

“Sorry. For assuming wrong”. And he turned to me shaking his head, as if saying that it was okay. “So you’re straight?” He shook his head, nervous. “Bi?” he shook his head again. But those movements, they didn’t seem like negation, they seemed more like confusion. “You don’t know then?” 

Dave shrugged, looking more nervous than I had ever seen him look. “You’re not gay but you… don’t know. Okay. I get it”.

I shrugged too. Dave grabbed his phone, the really useful phone, and typed for me.

“Probably gay”, it said.

Well. That was an answer.


	6. His Crush On Me

About a week later Rose was already best friends with Dave. I had no idea what they talked about behind my back, but when Dave moved seats to sit next to me, I became the mailman of their notebook paper conversations, just like the poor guy had been for me and Dave.

I knew they made fun of me, ‘cause sometimes, after reading something, Dave would look at Rose and giggle, and then she’d giggle back, and I’d stay in the middle trying to understand what was going on, and they’d laugh at me.

Despite the _slight_ jealousy, I was so glad my two best friends were becoming closer. It was a great situation, the two people I talked to most, becoming friends! I couldn’t tell you how many people looked at us three while we spoke in ASL on the stairs before class.

I was becoming almost fluent in the language, to my view. Dave said I could already hold up a conversation quite well, and that I just had to work on my reading, and that not everyone’d sign like him, because he was left-handed.

I hadn’t even realized that before. Dave was left-handed, and so he signed with his left hand. That was interesting.

Actually, everything that I was learning about ASL was interesting. The different ways sentences were formed, the way people could literally have _accents_ just like every other language in the world. There, learning it, I wished I had had the chance to learn it much earlier in life. That way I’d be able to talk to Dave without him having to type on his phone, and understand the inside jokes the language had, ones that only he knew. Because no one around him could speak the language.

Rose was trying. She had just begun learning two days before when we first spoke about it.

“So you do this?”

“Yeah, like this,” I corrected her. “This is your auxiliary hand, right?”

“Right”.

“Then yeah. Psych-ology. Science”.

“Psychology. Science”.

Maybe she was better than me at learning. Or maybe learning was easier when your two friends were either fluent or almost fluent.

“What’s Dave’s favorite color?” she asked with her hands and voice.

“It’s red,” I replied. “Why?”

“That means why?”

“Yeah”.

“Cool”. She nodded. “I wanna buy him a birthday present”.

“Already? We have like… three months to do that”.

“It’s in December, John”. Yeah, December was still pretty far away. Some weeks, maybe. “You’re not gonna forget to buy a present for your crush, right?”

I gulped. “What?”

“Come on, I know you like him,” she shook her head. “You're Mr. Obvious, always staring at him”.

That _wasn’t_ true.

“I’m ‘always’ staring at him ‘cause I need to see what he’s signing, dumbass”. Rose giggled.

“I’m not stupid, John,” she was right, she really wasn’t. “You’re _always_ staring at him. During class, during homework, while he’s signing… You’re always looking at his face, not even his hands”.

“For your information…” I raised one finger, ready to dismiss half of what she had said. “The better you get at ASL, the less you have to stare at the hands. I can look at his face when he’s signing ‘cause I’m good”.

She signed “fuck you” to me.

“But okay, yeah. Guess I can’t hide it anymore”.

Rose seemed happy that I admitted it. “You were trying to hide?”

And then I signed “fuck you” back to her. I was glad Dave had taught us that one.

But there was one more thing I wanted to learn: how to tell him I was into him. Was it weird? Was having a crush on my new best friend weird? _No_ , right? Was I weird for it? Rose didn’t seem to think it was.

“You know, he told me something you might like to know…”

“What’d he say?”

“He has a small crush on you”.

“Nah. He doesn’t”.

“He does, he told me himself,” she winked. “I wouldn’t share my friends’ secrets, but this one is necessary, obviously”.

I couldn’t take my eyes away from hers. “You can’t be serious”.

“When am I ever not serious?”

She was right about that. She was _right_.

So Dave… Dave liked me? It was a “small crush”, sure, but that was enough, wasn’t it? Even after that awkward non-date we had gone on, he liked me? That could _not_ be real, it couldn’t.

But again, why would Rose lie? And why would _he_ lie to her?

So it was true. Dave Strider liked me.

But what was “having a crush”, in his view? Did he stare at me in class wanting me to stare back? When we talked, and I looked at his lips, did he ever look at mine? Did he ever look at my skin and wonder how it must feel to kiss gently on my face, just like I did with him? What was it like, for him, when our hands touched accidentally as we spoke face to face?

Did he like my voice? He said he liked my glasses but what about my voice? Did he like to hear me speak? Did he like it when he saw me in the morning, walking into the school with my sister by my side, as he stood next to the stairs with that backpack in hands? How much did he feel for me, really? Did his heart under his really cool red shirts ever skip a beat for me, just like mine did for him? Did he ever want me to kiss his lips just like I sometimes wanted to, hands on my hair as I held his face tenderly and moved my fingers there? Did he ever think about me at home?

Did Dave _really_ like me the way I liked him? And if he did, what would I do?

I knew I had to ask him on a date again. One more… Just one more so I could figure it all out.

It was a Friday afternoon, so I knew what I had to do.


	7. His Lips

TG: im almost there

TG: is it a green house?

EB: no, why would i have a green house? >:B

EB: it’s white.

TG: all these other houses are white

TG: fuckkkkk

EB: just search for number 63, it’s not that hard!!

TG: ok i think i found it

I heard the doorbell ring. _Yes_ , he was there. But also: _shit_ , he was there.

I opened the front door to Dave and the blond man I had seen at school those weeks ago. That was his _brother_? When I first saw him I was sure he was his dad, how old was that man? “Hey!” I said. Dave and his brother both weren’t smiling. The man ruffled Dave’s hair.

“Don’t call me so early, huh?” he turned around, walking back to his car. Dave didn’t stop staring at me, and nodded, asking “may I come in?”

I had no idea what those signs meant, but I used the motion of “come in” with my next sentence. “Missed you”.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but I didn’t even realize it. Dave walked inside my house, looking up at the ceiling, looking around the walls. “Your dad,” he signed.

“Nah, he’s not home,” I said.

Dave continued looking around. Wow, he was at my house. I started thinking about where we were gonna watch the movie. The living room couch? Or would it be hard to see his face that way? My room? Or would that be too much, taking him to my room? If we stayed in the living room there was a huge chance my dad would come home early and see us. But if we went to my bedroom, how embarrassing would it be that I had all those cinema posters lying around?

No, we could stay in the living room. All I had to do was watch the movie, tell Dave I like him, and then either kiss him or awkwardly wait until his brother came to pick him up. There weren’t many choices available and Dave would be the one to decide what would happen.

And that, that made me nervous…

“What’re we watching?” Dave signed. I wasn’t sure. Maybe my favorite movie? Maybe my least favorite one? I had been so desperate to get a date with him that I hadn’t even had time to pick the movie we were going to watch. How stupid was I?

Dave stared at me like I was a moron when I shrugged. “You don’t know?”

I shot him a smile, but I was too embarrassed to respond. I couldn’t use my words, so I just leaned on my hands to help me. “What… you… want… watch”, I signed.

Dave got his phone. “You want me to choose a movie you’ll magically have?”

He was right, that was a stupid question.

I grabbed his phone from his hand. “Can I?”

We then started talking through his notes app.

Choose the genre at least!!!

John, stop giving me choices.

I liked the way he wrote my name. I wondered how it would sound coming out of his mouth.

Horror?

No way.

Animation?

Dave stopped to think. “Sure”, he typed.

“Good to know you have good taste”.

I walked him to the living room and showed him all the cartoon movies I had. He chose The Lion King, which surprised me. “You like Disney?”

He nodded. Who didn’t like Disney?

We sat down and I started making my plans. Maybe I could tell him at the end of the movie. Or… during it. But again, better play it safe. Shit. My heart was beating fast. I didn’t want Dave to think I was weird, I couldn't lose a friendship like that.

We were ten minutes into the movie when Dave got his phone out again. He handed it to me and I read what he had written on the notes app.

I actually don’t really like this movie.

I didn’t say anything out loud, I just typed back to him.

What??

Yeah. I just didn’t know what to choose lmao.

I looked at Dave but he didn’t look back at me. His eyes looked fixated on the movie that he apparently didn’t like.

To be honest, I’m not really into this movie either.

Lmao, it’s so boring, right?

Nah, it’s not boring, it’s just… I don't know.

Lol it’s boring, admit it.

Dave. The Lion King is not boring.

I was starting to get actually angry. How could Dave insult a movie as classic and well-made as The Lion King? I knew I had told him I wasn’t so fond of the movie either but that wasn’t what _I meant_. That movie was a fucking work of art, if I must say.

Dave seemed to find it funny that I was starting to get angry next to him. He handed me the phone with a giggle, and it said:

It’s so fucking boring that I’d rather watch sports than watch this, tbh.

No. That was too far. “Well, then you should know that The Lion King is actually one of the _best_ Disney movies ever. Hell, it’s one of the best movies in the world, I don’t care. The animation is incredible and the soundtrack is unbelievably catchy. They make you fall in love with the characters and root for them and I will defend this movie with _my life_ , I don’t care that you’re my best friend. The main character was also voiced by Matthew Broderick, who-”

“John”, Dave mouthed, no sound coming out. “What?”

I had been staring at him angrily while I ranted about the movie. Dave hadn’t stopped smirking, looking at me back and making fun of me with his _eyes_. I _believe_ the sign he did meant “shut up”, but I’d only realize it a moment later.

I only rationalized everything when I already had Dave’s lips against my own. He was kissing me, kissing me with everything he had. His hands went straight to my hair with no hesitation, my eyes closed, and I kissed him back. God. I couldn’t believe that was happening. And he was kissing me _first_ , he was kissing me like he really wanted it, like he was freezing and my lips were the only source of heat he had.

I took my right hand to Dave’s nape and tried to pull him even closer. I was _kissing Dave Strider_. And his lips were too soft to believe, his mouth tasted like water and a lot of toothpaste. 

It lasted the next two minutes, and every time he separated our mouths so he could take a breath was a moment my heart skipped a beat. Kissing Dave felt much better than it did inside my head. Much better.

What the fuck was The Lion King when his hand was right there pulling on my hair? Dave desperately pulled me closer, and then away, and his kiss was simultaneously the softest and the wildest I could ever imagine.

He had to finish the kiss because I wasn’t capable of pulling away. He opened his eyes, his beautiful red eyes that I had seen the first time I met him, and _shit, shit, shit_. He was too much. Too much for my head to handle, and that guy, that perfect guy had just kissed me for two minutes straight.

Everything was too good to be true so I heard the keys to the front door being turned around. “My dad’s here!”

Dave and I both turned to the TV quickly, and I just hoped dad wouldn’t notice how red his lips were. _Fuck_.

“John?” dad said, entering the door. Jade was next to him. “We’re back!”

I got up. “Hey, dad. This is Dave. That Dave I told you about”.

Dave got up too, standing next to me and waving at my dad with a smile. “Hello, Dave”. Jade stared at me with the _biggest_ smile. She winked, and I rolled my eyes at her.

“You boys having fun?” I nodded. _Yeah_. Maybe too much fun. “Lion King? Can we watch with you?”

Dave nodded desperately. “Yeah, dad. Come on”.

“Just gonna make some popcorn. You’re watching movies without popcorn?”

When dad left the room, Jade laughed and walked closer to us. “Nice lipstick”.

I could feel my head go red. I couldn’t look at Dave, not red like that. 

Dad returned and sat on the floor with the popcorn, resetting the whole movie. Dave, Jade, and I all sat on the couch behind him, with Dave in the middle. He grabbed his phone, typing:

Sorry if I made you embarrassed.

He handed the phone to me, and I replied:

Wish I could kiss you more.

Dave smiled when he read the note, and I could _feel_ him trying not to. “Alright,” I saw him mouth, not looking at me.

I still don’t like Lion King.

And did that even matter anymore? I tried my best not to laugh at what he had written, locking the phone and giving it back to him. Our hands met in the middle, and we chose to just let them hang there.

Dave’s hand was sweaty, but holding it between us felt even better than being kissed by him. It felt more casual, and more right.

But _God_ , I needed to kiss that boy again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao I've never even seen The Lion King 😭 thank y'all for reading the fic, I had a lot of fun writing it <3 Writing sign language meant a lot to me!


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